Julia Keller. (2015). Last Ragged Breath: A Novel. St. Martin's Publishing Group.

Julia Keller. 2015. Last Ragged Breath: A Novel. St. Martin's Publishing Group.

Julia Keller, Last Ragged Breath: A Novel. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2015.

Julia Keller. Last Ragged Breath: A Novel. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2015.

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1. • value: family
2. • value: Appalachian Mountains
3. • value: flood
4. • value: small town
5. • value: Appalachia
6. • value: crime
7. • value: woman sleuth
8. • value: Based on a true story
9. • value: love
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13. • value: Genre Fiction
14. • value: coal mine
15. • value: rural
16. • value: Poverty
17. • value: Social Justice
18. • value: flooding
19. • value: female lawyer
20. • value: off the grid
21. • value: Pulitzer Prize winning author
22. • value: prosecuting attorney
23. • value: buffalo creek disaster
24. • value: set in west virginia

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   • fileAs: Keller, Julia
   • bioText: Julia Keller, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and former cultural critic at the Chicago Tribune, is the author of many books for adults and young readers, including A Killing in the Hills, the first book in the Bell Elkins series and winner of the Barry Award for Best First Novel (2013); Back Home; and The Dark Intercept. Keller has a Ph.D. in English literature from Ohio State and was awarded Harvard University's Nieman Fellowship. She was born in West Virginia and lives in Ohio.
   • name: Julia Keller

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2015-08-25T00:00:00-04:00

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Last Ragged Breath

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From the night-black depths of a coalmine to the sun-struck peaks of the Appalachian Mountains, from a riveting murder mystery to a poignant meditation on the meaning of love and family, the latest novel in the critically acclaimed series strikes out for new territory: the sorrow and outrage that spring from a real-life chapter in West Virginia history.
Royce Dillard doesn't remember much about the day his parents-and one hundred and twenty-three other souls-died in the 1972 Buffalo Creek disaster. He was only two years old when he was ripped from his mother's arms. But now Dillard, who lives off the grid with only a passel of dogs for company, is fighting for his life one more time: He's on trial for murder.
Prosecutor Bell Elkins faces her toughest challenge yet in this haunting story of vengeance, greed and the fierce struggle for social justice. Richly imagined, vividly written and deeply felt, Julia Keller's Last Ragged Breath is set in West Virginia, but it really takes place in a land we all know: the country called home.

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reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: USA Today
   • content:

     "What particularly distinguishes Julia Keller's series about Bell Elkins, a West Virginia prosecutor, is its sense of social conscience...powerfully affecting when matched with the right character and story...It's wonderful to see mystery series as literary and reflective as this one flourish."

2. • premium: False
   • source: Oprah.com
   • content: "Keller crafts a cracking whodunnit with many a red herring, but her real accomplishment is the unflinching depiction of rural poverty and the ways the inhabitants of Acker's Gap hold on to their dignity despite few and terrible options."
3. • premium: False
   • source: The Richmond Times-Dispatch
   • content: "A satisfying mystery must excel at plot, people and prose, and Keller masters all aspects...Summer of the Dead confirms that this immensely talented writer summons her best, and West Virginia's best, in this chillingly beautiful novel."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Associated Press
   • content: "Julia Keller's third novel set in the Appalachian community of Acker's Gap, West Virginia, expertly explores how people in small towns hide in plain sight many of their flaws, hopes and even a propensity for violence. Keller's insights into the vagaries of families provide a solid foundation as the character-driven Summer of the Dead delivers a plot rich with believable action and intriguing twists."
5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     June 1, 2015
     The Buffalo Creek flood of 1972, a real-life West Virginia tragedy in which more than 100 people died, provides the backdrop for Keller’s fourth Bell Elkins thriller (after 2014’s Summer of the Dead), an intense study of childhood trauma and corporate malfeasance. Decades later (now in the present), Royce Dillard, a recluse whose parents perished in the flood, becomes a suspect when a dog sniffs out the corpse of Ed Hackel, a slick marketer, in a creek outside Acker’s Gap. Hackel had been pressuring Dillard to sell his land so that it could be developed as part of the new Mountain Magic resort planned for the region. As prosecuting attorney, Bell is tasked with proving Dillard’s guilt. When it becomes clear that something about Dillard doesn’t fit the profile of a cold-blooded killer, Bell must dig deeper into a community rife with secrets. Keller conveys smalltown mind-sets with a folksy style that richly evokes a part of Appalachia still grappling with its past. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

6. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from June 15, 2015
     A West Virginia prosecutor has an uneasy feeling about her latest case. Belfa "Bell" Elkins feels betrayed by one of her closest friends: former sheriff Nick Fogelsong has recently resigned from his job and is now head of security for the Highway Haven chain of truck stops. Meanwhile, Raythune County is beset by poverty and drug use. Coal is dying, and the only new jobs on the horizon are low-paying positions at the Mountain Magic resort, whose construction has been held up by Royce Dillard's refusal to sell the parcel the resort needs for easy access to the interstate. Royce is a recluse who lives in a tiny cabin with the dogs he's adopted. A survivor of the infamous Buffalo Creek disaster, he deals with dogs better than people but is known throughout the community as a kind and gentle soul. A tiny pension from the mining company whose lax policies created the flood that killed his parents is all Royce has to live on, but despite constant hectoring and offers of big money from Mountain Magic employee Edward Hackel, he refuses to sell. When Hackel's badly battered body is found in the creek near Royce's home, Sheriff Pam Harrison arrests Royce for the murder. Then a bloody shovel is found in his shed, and Bell has no choice but to prosecute, even though she has doubts and sorely misses the chance to discuss the case with Fogelsong. Bell, not a dog person, even takes in one of Royce's pooches as she struggles with the case, angling for a plea bargain from a defendant who steadfastly maintains his innocence. The large sums of money involved guarantee other suspects; Bell just has to find one with a better motive for murdering Hackel. A beautifully crafted mystery in which Keller (Summer of the Dead, 2014, etc.) explores love, hate, and poverty in a place of stunning natural beauty with pockets of overwhelming ugliness. The ending may leave you in tears.

     COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

7. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from June 1, 2015
     There has been a big hole in Bell Elkins' life since Sheriff Nick Fogelsong retired. As county prosecutor, Bell worked for years with Nick, her closest friend, to solve cases and fight the growing drug problem in Acker's Gap, West Virginia. But now that Nick is head of security at a chain of truck stops, Bell can't talk to him about the murder of Ed Hackel, representative for a developer with big plans for the area, plans contingent on buying land owned by reclusive Royce Dillard. Motive and forensic evidence point to Dillard as the killer: the murder weapon is found in his barn, and Hackel had repeatedly harangued him to sell his land. But Dillard, permanently marked by a flood in which his parents died when he was two years old, protests his innocence. As Bell and Sheriff Pam Harrison struggle to find the truth, tragedy strikes Nick, who can't give up his lawman's ways. While the resolution of the crime is a bit abrupt, this novellike its three predecessorsis elevated far above the ordinary by masterful character development and a keen sense of place. With bits of her backstory still being revealed, Elkins is certainly among the best-drawn characters in crime fiction today.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

8. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     August 1, 2015
     

     This gritty series, with its unflinching depiction of rural poverty in West Virginia, keeps getting better. In the fourth entry (after Summer of the Dead), the reclusive Royce Dillard stands accused of killing Ed Hackel, who was pressuring Royce to sell his land. County prosecutor Bell Elkins, not quite convinced of Royce's guilt, faces her toughest job yet. [See Prepub Alert, 3/25/15; library marketing.]

     Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

9. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     March 15, 2015
     

     In this third installment of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Keller's much-starred series featuring West Virginia prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins, a development company is buying up property around Acker's Gap, WV. Ballard McCoy alone refuses to sell land inherited from his father, who died with Ballard's mother and 117 others in a tragic 1972 dam burst. The company's president says she's ready to spill a nasty secret about Ballard's father. And then she's murdered.

     Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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From the night-black depths of a coalmine to the sun-struck peaks of the Appalachian Mountains, from a riveting murder mystery to a poignant meditation on the meaning of love and family, the latest novel in the critically acclaimed series strikes out for new territory: the sorrow and outrage that spring from a real-life chapter in West Virginia history.
Royce Dillard doesn't remember much about the day his parents-and one hundred and twenty-three other souls-died in the 1972 Buffalo Creek disaster. He was only two years old when he was ripped from his mother's arms. But now Dillard, who lives off the grid with only a passel of dogs for company, is fighting for his life one more time: He's on trial for murder.
Prosecutor Bell Elkins faces her toughest challenge yet in this haunting story of vengeance, greed and the fierce struggle for social justice. Richly imagined, vividly written and deeply felt, Julia Keller's Last Ragged Breath is set in West Virginia, but it...

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